When my sextet of egg-layers showed signs of diminishing production, I bought some peeps at the veterinary store and turned them over to Maria José's 10-yr.-old son Alfonzo to raise until they fledged. The eight peeps turned out to be six hens and two roosters, and this past Friday, MJ and Jonathan brought the youngsters to their new home in Juanita's former digs in the chicken coop. Juanita, I am sorry to say, went to her eternal reward, thanks to a fox or other varmint who beheaded her about a month ago. The chicks were nicely fledged, and as motley as is normal here in Nica. The largest was black and white-striped, mainly Plymouth Rock, I imagine. Three were whitish, and the others were brownish and orangish and black. Mutts all.
I planned to take some photos of my eight new arrivals on Saturday, but when I went out to the coop, I found only four chicks. Some predator had made off with the other four, squeezing under the fencing, no doubt. Just like that. Half the flock gone. That evening, I moved the dog carrier into the coop and locked up the survivors until morning, and now they seem no worse for the trauma of Friday night. Here dey is:
As luck would have it, all four victims were hens, which nets me two out of eight for my massive
investment. I must go to Niquinohomo to buy some pullets, as I did when I bought my current layers.
Hurricane Nate blew down the chayotera -- a framework for supporting chayote vines that yield that green pear-shaped soup vegetable that is ubiquitous in Central America. Roger and his machete went to work over the weekend and now I have a nice new trellis. New plantings come in tomorrow, and with luck, in six months it will be a leafy bower.
Mitzi, at six months, is almost full-sized. She is a leggy tween, gallumphing all over de place, full of life and perpetually hungry, and now, the biggest dog on campus.
hi trish, just caught up with all your blog posts--every one of them absorbing. xotey
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